AUSTINTOWN — Drag racing radio-controlled vehicles has a group of Mahoning Valley men practicing and competing for events that carry big purses.

Michael Cricks of Niles, Yepper J. Yahn of Youngstown and Troy Bolton of Garrettsville met at Austintown Hobby to showcase their drag cars.

“We all met through RC racing,” Cricks said.

Radio-controlled vehicles began in the United Kingdom in the 1960s and spread throughout the world. RC vehicles have venues ranging from backyard and carpet toys to serious off-road, road race and carpet racing.

They have come a long way and offer a variety of classes and prices for the hobbyist.

One venue on the rise is drag racing RC vehicles.

Cricks, Yahn and Bolton each have their own story about how they got involved.

Cricks said he was introduced to RC cars as a kid. Now he’s 42 and married. He works as a self-employed salesman. In his spare time, he enjoys the RC hobby and has three RC cars in his stable — a ’67 Mustang, a Mach 23 Pro Mod, and a ’61 Ford Falcon.

“The stock-looking cars race in stock and street classes,” he said. “The Pro Mod, or Outlaw, class is more of a bullet-shaped body designed for drag and air.”

Cricks said anyone can get into the hobby for $200 to $300 for a ready-to-run car that would run in the stock class. If a person chooses to move up in class, the price grows. The fastest RC cars can cost up to $2,000 and require regular upkeep. Tires and batteries and repairs can cost as much as $60 every time one is run.

ALWAYS A RACER

Yahn, 53, enjoys the hobby and doesn’t mind the price.

“I am not married, and am retired from General Motors,” Yahn said. “That is why I can afford to do all this.”

Yahn said he always had been a car enthusiast. Even as a high school student, he raced a 1984 Chevrolet Caprice at Quaker City drag strip. He still has the car and still races it.

At 15, Yahn got into 1/24 scale electric slot cars. He grew that hobby and has a 32-by-48-foot shop with a slot car track set up. He had a lot of friends who came over and raced regularly until the COVID-19 pandemic hit.

“I had to shut my track down during COVID cause we couldn’t meet indoors,” Yahn said. “That is when I found out about 1/10th scale RC drag racing. Since it is an outdoor venue, it could be held during COVID. So COVID actually grew our hobby.”

Yahn has four 1/10th scale cars, a ’67 Chevelle and a ’63 Corvette that run in the Real Street classes and two C-7 Corvettes of which one is in the Outlaw class.

Bolton, 43, is the big family man of the trio. He is married and has five children ranging in age from 9 to 26. He works as a field service technician for a bearing manufacturer.

“As a kid, I loved RC toy cars,” Bolton said. “In high school, I got into motocross. One day (at Marlington High School) I was reading one of my motocross magazines and a friend sitting next to me had an RC magazine. We traded and I read his magazine and that is how I got interested in RC again.”

CARS IN CLASSES

In 2000-01, Bolton started racing indoors at a local skating rink that transformed into an oval racetrack for RC cars. While doing indoor ovals, he found out about a 1/10th scale drag race and after seeing the event, decided to get into that aspect of the hobby.

Today Bolton owns seven 1/10th drag cars ranging from out-of-the-box stock to Outlaws.

“A lot of us have cars in each class so it gives us more opportunities to race,” he said.

Cricks said that through involvement, all three men met and formed a friendship. They manage to get permission at some plazas to race during off hours as long as they limit their numbers. For competition, they travel to the Big Dog RC complex in Stoneboro, Pa., which includes an outdoor paved dragstrip.

Cricks said to race a 1/10th scale car, one needs a 1/10th scale quarter-mile dragstrip. That would work out to around 134 feet with an additional 200 feet for a shutdown section. He said some cars in the Outlaw class can hit close to 90 mph.

Another track that has competition is in Toledo at the local fairgrounds.

“The purses for these races can be high,” Cricks said. “A recent race in Toledo has a $18,000 first-place prize and $6,000 for second. It attracted 130 racers, many with more than one car.”

All three men agree on one thing: RC racing is a brotherhood.

Austintown Hobby has an indoor track for smaller scales, but no drag strip. The business does sell the cars and parts for the drag racers and would put a newcomer in touch with Cricks, Yahn and Bolton’s circle of friends, Cricks noted.

“When you are just getting started, everyone is more than happy to help out,” Cricks said. “We are always helping each other.”